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Ignatia is a superficial remedy. It will not cure deep conditions, but will often bring immediate relief to emergencies. Often it's good after a difficult relationship ending.

Nat-M can cure deep conditions.

Both remedies are often used in the same conditions.

You may want to keep all of your conversations in the same discussion. So that we know what's going on in your case.

Heheh were are still having this conversation :)

Ignatia as a remedy that belongs to the Loginaceae family of plants, is primarly a remedy for Shock. Ignatia as a plant is very sensitive, and this plant is very sensitive to loss, overeacting with many almost hysterical symptoms. It is well known for grief, for those who become 'unhinged' after the death of a loved one, the loss of an important job, the theft of a memento dear to them. The cannot sleep, cannot remain calm, react to everything in an exaggerated way. Their moods go up and down in an unpredictable way, they find themselves constantly thinking about what has happened to them as if it happened yesterday. They often use words like 'shattered' 'ruined' 'wrecked'.

Belonging to the Cancer miasm (for those who use that classification), Ignatia will attempt to control and repress their feelings. This often produces a feeling in them that the emotions are always threatening to rise up and overcome them, but they stop it, 'put a lid on it' as I often have heard them say. They will then get the characteristic 'lump in the throat' which is all that emotion getting stuck. They will control their grief until they are alone, and then they will sob and sob until exhausted. They need to be alone because they fear losing control in front of others.

Nat-mur is also a well-known remedy for grief, but of a totally different kind. As a mineral the main problem is a lack of something or a break in a structure in their life. The structure is a relationship with a person that gave them a sense of identity. When this person is lost to them, whether through betrayal or death, they must become a different person, often the opposite of who they were before. There is a rejection of the relationship, a rejection of any human comfort, they embrace being alone, identify strongly as being a 'person outside of relationships or love'. They appear to harden up on the surface, trying to insulate themselves from further hurt.

Nat-mur often bury the grief and loss so far down that they cannot cry. However the emotions can be stimulated by watching sad movies or listening to music. Very often these things remind them of what they had, of the person they have lost.

Based on what you said in that discussion on Cancer, I think that Nat-M is appropriate.

Neither Boenninghausen nor Kent considered Ignatia to be useful at all for cancer.

Kent at least grades Nat-M as a one for the treatment of Cancer.

Cancer miasm does not mean you have cancer. There are many diseases that can follow the pattern without producing cancer. Just as with the Syphilitic miasm and the Gonorrheal miasm, you don't need to actually have these diseases to show the pattern.

Cancer pattern = Control, Repression, Order, Chaos, Perfectionism, Invasion, Fastidious, Superhuman effort. Cancer invades from the inside, and takes over.

Miasm is a system of classification begun by Hahnemann and expanded upon by other homoeopaths. Some people use a smaller system and some use a larger one. There is still disagreement about how best to use Miasmatic classification or even if it should be expanded upon.

Ignatia is not superficial. It is a very deep acting chronic remedy when the symptoms call for it. The grief of Ignatia can last for many years and make them very sick - but the grief feels like it happened yesterday. There are many examples of cure of chronic disease in our literature with Ignatia.

I have seen Ignatia patients who have been grieving for 10-20 years, and remained in the Ignatia state. They did not need any other remedy once the cure took place.

Nat-mur can cry in front of others at times, some Nat-murs have trained themselves to do so, although it is usually forced. I would not make a decision about whether a person needs Nat-mur based on this kind of symptom or at least on that alone.

Generally I don't leave my patients to figure out how they should be dosing. That is my job.

Computer programs cannot do it. I have a computer program I use in clinic, it cannot choose the remedies for me - at best it can make suggestions and I look over them. As often as not, I will disregard the ones it scores highest for a remedy much further down the list.

Students have exactly the same problem with the programs. Materia medica and Repertory programs just are not flexible enough, lateral enough, to replace a human mind. There are so many fine points between medicines, so many fine lines in a human being's life, only a person can do it.

For the most part, the use of a computer program only gives results as good as the person using it. I was always happy to let students use them in clinic and in class because it never really replaced smart analysis and good understanding of the patient, it just allowed faster retrieval of information.

Typically i just put a few drops in the cup - actually for most patients just one drop. A whole teaspoon seems a lot.

My instructions for my patients are 2 hits to the bottle, 1 drop in (x) amount of water in a cup, stir thoroughly, take 1 teaspoon out into the mouth.

One can adjust the number of hits, number of drops, amount of water, and number of teaspoons in order to manage aggravation.

Once a day until aggravation happens, then you stop and reassess the case.

Yes that could happen, as long as there is improvement and no aggravation you can continue for as long as this happens. Also you would need to watch for suppression (new more serious symptoms appearing) which is a remote danger with any remedy that is constantly repeated.

They are often better in themselves, calmer, more creative, happier, more productive - wherever there was a problem previously, there isn't anymore.

I wouldn't say their personality changes - who they are remains the same, but the imbalance between positive and negative shifts (towards positive of course).

It is interesting though, to see that some things that people *thought* were part of their personality changes - for instance a loner becomes more social, an extrovert becomes happier in their own company. They never stop being something like that, but the extremeness of it reduces.

The symptoms of Ignitia and Natrum Mur are different.

The matching of symptoms wit hthe drug picture decides which med will be suitable.

Ignitia: Headache as if a nail is being driven in the skull. Relief in pain on sleeping on the side of the pain. Constriction of anus...nothing moves out. Throat is choked and pains when not swallowing. Relief in throat pain on eating some thing. Great swings of mood. Definitely a remedy indicated when grief is caused due to a broken relationship or death of a loved one.

Natrum Mur: Headaches from sunrise to sun set. Worse around 10 a.m. Constipated. Mouth , throat , nasal passages dry on waking up. Colds start with sneezing. Dislikes offer of sympathy by others...may react to it in a aggressive way. Bottled up anger...with >>> out bursts once in a while. Craves Salt. Has hyper tension.

Punkaj Varma